The Camel in Roman Tripolitania

Abstract

It is impossible for us, even in these days of land-rovers and jeeps, to imagine a North African landscape without a camel in it, yet the animal is nowhere to be found on the numerous Roman mosaics with scenes of country life in the museums of Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripolitania. Only two ancient writers before Ammianus Marcellinus refer to the camel in North Africa, one specifically, the other by implication. The fact that the camel spread over this region—Africa Proconsular is, Numidia and Mauretania—some time during the Roman period is, however, generally accepted. What is not clear is when and how this happened. The purpose of this note is to publish the photograph of a relief from a Tripolitanian tomb (Pl. XVIII), in the hope that it may be a small contribution to the discussion of the problem, at least as far as Tripolitania is concerned.The evidence has often been studied. The earliest mention of the camel in the Maghreb is the note in the Bellum Africanum to the effect that twenty-two camels belonging to King Juba were captured during the skirmishing in the campaign which led up to the Battle of Thapsus (45 B.C.). It is not known how Juba obtained his twenty two camels, or whether other rich Numidians owned any, and there is no hint of the presence of the beast in Punic times. The second notice comes in the work of the late third-century African Christian, Arnobius of Sicca, who writes of the camel kneeling down when it is being loaded or unloaded.

Camels on the Northeastern Frontier of the Roman Empire

“…Brogan (1954) considered that using this animal for fieldwork was a natural result of the extension of the coastal cities in Mediterranean Africa. The growth necessitated cultivation of wheat and irrigation of the desert, where cattle are useless due to their constant need for food and water.…”

“…The growth necessitated cultivation of wheat and irrigation of the desert, where cattle are useless due to their constant need for food and water. Cattle use twice as much water as camels of the same weight daily (MacFarlane et al 1963: 270), so the camels' presence far away from coast (both described by Brogan (1954) sites lie more than 100 km from the Mediterranean Sea) is viable.…”

The Linguistic Prehistory of the Sahara

“…Kossmann (1999Kossmann ( , 2013 points out that there are well-assimilated Latin loans associated with agricultural terminology which are part of proto-Berber, as well as numerous Arabic borrowings from that are found virtually across its range. This points to a series of levelling episodes within Berber, facilitated by the mobile culture of the nomads and a strong pressure to keep communication systems open, which may in turn be associated with the importance of the camel from the first century AD onwards (Brogan 1954).…”

S. Giacomo degli Schiavoni (Molise): an early fifth century AD deposit of pottery and animal bones from central Adriatic Italy

“…Boessneck (1964) claims that the Vindonissa and Vienna camels are bactrians, and this is supported by Bokonyi (1974). The dromedary was used for ploughing in Roman Tripolitania (Brogan, 1954), but the Romans used it especially as a pack animal. In a more recent paper Bokonyi (1989) Another open question is what the S. Giacomo camel was imported for.…”

“…Bulliet (1975) suggests a first domestication for milk, and camel milk was drunk in Roman times (Pliny XI, 237; XXVIII, 123; mentioned by Luff, 1982). The dromedary was used for ploughing in Roman Tripolitania (Brogan, 1954), but the Romans used it especially as a pack animal. The meat of the camel is eaten today in Somalia King (1985).…”